Best Grill Cookware and Accessories: What Worked and What to Skip

Introduction

The right outdoor cookware quietly expands what your grill can do. Delicate fish stops flaking into the fire, mixed vegetables stop rolling through the grates, and feeding a crowd stops being a logistics problem. We tested a wide range of grill baskets, trays, griddles, and specialty pans to find out which pieces of gear are genuinely worth the space in your setup, and which ones you should walk past.

What to Avoid Before You Buy

First, a warning about nonstick. The grill is a harsh environment: grill surfaces can reach over 600 degrees, while typical nonstick coatings start to break down and off-gas around 500 degrees. In our experience, those coatings burn off, and once they do, the bare metal underneath starts to rust. Skip nonstick grill cookware entirely and go for uncoated stainless steel, carbon steel, or plain cast iron. Along the same lines, keep your enameled cast iron indoors. You can technically grill with it, but the enamel will blacken and can crack, and it is an expensive thing to ruin.

Some foods are simply awkward on bare grates. Small pieces of vegetables and meat want to fall into the fire, and fish breaks apart. Grill baskets and trays solve this with holes that let smoke and flavor through while keeping everything contained, no skewering required and no disposable foil that rips mid-cook. Not every basket gets that balance right, though.

The Outset Chef’s Jumbo Outdoor Grill Basket is a two-in-one steel mesh skillet and saucepan, designed so the halves can be used separately or clipped together for flipping and tossing food. It is a clever idea undermined by the execution: our sample arrived with a broken hinge, the two halves were hard to fit together, and the many nooks and crannies made cleaning fussy. It is also heavy when empty, the wide handle is uncomfortable for smaller hands, and you cannot take it on and off the grill one-handed.

The Weber Large Grilling Basket has one real virtue: it holds food very securely, so you can flip the whole thing over at once. Beyond that, it frustrated us. Despite the name, there is only about a quarter inch of vertical space for food, so closing it digs into whatever you are cooking. When we grilled fish in it, the wires pressed into the fillet and ripped hunks out when we opened it. Very small pieces can still slip through the wide holes, and the coil structure takes serious scrubbing, toothbrush included, to clean afterwards.

Grill Baskets and Trays That Work

The winners share sturdy, simple designs that hold food easily, handle comfortably, and clean up without a fight.

The Weber Deluxe Grill Pan is a flat, perforated steel tray with small holes that keep food out of the fire. That simplicity is exactly why it works: we grilled fish and vegetables in it and found it incredibly easy to use and easy to clean. If you want a no-fuss way to grill small or delicate foods, this is the straightforward answer.

Venino Kitchen’s set of three baskets won us over completely. They are all stainless steel, so they feel sturdy, the small handles stick out and make them comfortable to grab, and they fit neatly together on the grill if you run more than one at a time. When you are done, they wash in the sink or go straight into the dishwasher. No foil packets, no skewers, just load them up and cook. One of our testers was so impressed she ordered her own set before testing was even finished.

The Braze stainless steel adjustable grilling basket is the clever one of the group. You squeeze the frame and slide it to change the height, with four different positions, so it sits snug around whatever you are cooking, from thin red snapper fillets up to a thick T-bone. It also solves the handle problem: the handle clips on and off with one hand, so you can close the grill lid with the basket fully inside and hot while the handle stays cool. Layer chicken over vegetables in there and the drips run through as it cooks. Despite the wire construction, you can wash cleanly along the wires on all sides, which makes it far easier to clean than most clamping baskets.

Flat-Top Griddles for Your Existing Grill

Flat-top grills are popular for good reason, but you do not need to buy a whole second grill for smash burgers, grilled cheese, stir fry, or breakfast. Two griddles turn your existing gas or charcoal grill into a temporary flat top.

The Weber Crafted Griddle is a big square of carbon steel with plenty of room, so you can cook a dozen eggs on one side and bacon on the other. Carbon steel browns food beautifully because it transfers heat more fiercely than stainless steel, and the browning here is truly gorgeous. Two things to know: it arrives unseasoned, so you must clean it, oil it, and heat it to season before first use or it will rust. You can season indoors in the oven like a baking steel, or do it all out on the grill. It is also heavy, and grease has nowhere to go except a small drip hole into the body of the grill. We saw no flare-ups during testing, but the grease trap filled up, so remember to check and empty it to avoid a fire hazard.

The Little Griddle Kettle Q is made entirely of stainless steel, which makes it lighter and more portable, and you can use it straight out of the box with no seasoning. The trade-off is browning: it does not sear quite as intensely as carbon steel. What it gets right is design. A lifting system raises it off the grates so heat circulates evenly underneath, a back stop keeps burgers from sliding over the edge while the spatula gets under them, and a deep grease trough holds a remarkable amount of drippings, where they stay instead of draining into the fire. The rounded shape fits a charcoal kettle neatly, and a rectangular version exists for gas grills, though the round one works fine on gas too. We made smash burgers, pancakes, eggs, and bacon on it, and cleanup is a simple sink wash.

Specialty Tools That Do One Job Well

Sometimes a single-purpose tool earns its place by doing one thing beautifully.

The Weber Rib Rack lets you barbecue up to five full racks of ribs at once while still leaving room on the grill for other food. Ribs take four to five hours to cook, so batching makes sense: cook a bunch, then vacuum seal and freeze extras to reheat later. Because the rack holds ribs upright, both sides cook at once, it saves space, and it still develops that delicious bark. Big handles help you turn the rack, the loops are spaced to keep airflow between racks, and nothing slips around the way it does on shallower racks. It is easy to clean, and you can even flip it over to hold a roast.

The Oyster Bed in the petite size holds six oysters, and a larger version holds 12. You can put whole oysters directly on the grill grate, but they pop open and spill their liquor down into the grill when you move them. This cast aluminum pan holds them upright, and any spill collects in the groove around the edge instead of vanishing into the fire, which also makes a nicer presentation. Drench them in butter, cook them whole or on the half shell Rockefeller-style, serve straight from the pan, cook other seafood in it, or use the well for sauces. It even chills well for serving raw oysters. It is solid but lightweight and easy to handle, and it is a little on the pricier side, but if grilling oysters is your thing, it is worth a look.

Practical Tips for Grill Cookware

A few habits make all of this gear easier to live with. Get a half sheet tray if you do not own one. Perforated and mesh baskets have holes by definition, so juices drip on the way to and from the grill, and a rimmed baking sheet that fits the basket gives you something tidy to carry and something solid to hold when the metal is hot.

Oil the food, not the cookware. Use plenty of oil on the food itself to prevent sticking. Stainless steel will stick a little at first, but once the metal is hot, food releases well, and any brown spots scrub off easily with Bar Keepers Friend. Browned metal still cooks perfectly well.

Finally, take cleanup seriously when you shop. If a piece is hard to clean, you will stop using it. The worst offenders had too many nooks and crannies, and unlike an English muffin, that is not a good thing in grill cookware. Prefer pieces that fit in the sink, and dishwasher-safe designs are a genuine bonus.

Conclusion

The pattern across our testing was clear: simple, sturdy, easy-to-clean designs won, and complicated or flimsy mechanisms lost. A flat perforated tray, a set of nesting stainless baskets, and an adjustable clamping basket cover most everyday grilling needs. Add a carbon steel or stainless griddle if you want flat-top cooking without a second grill, and the rib rack or oyster pan if those specific jobs appeal to you. Match the tool to the food you actually cook, and your grill will handle far more than it could with grates alone.